GLASGOW GIRLS

We are excited to invite you to the first exhibition of this group of “Glasgow Girls” since 2008. Friends for over forty years since joining Glasgow School of Art as teenagers in 1981, Rosemary Beaton, Lesley Burr and Alison Harper have exhibited numerous times individually and in various combinations since 1987. They were first brought together under this title by Agi Katz of the BoundaryGallery, London after she saw an article “Here come the Glasgow Girls” in the Independent newspaper in 1987. They and others were emerging from GSA a couple of years after the so-called Glasgow Boys; Adrian Wiszniewski, Ken Currie, Stephen Campbell and Peter Howson and more who were gaining national and international attention in the mid to late eighties as part of and leading a resurgence of figurative painting.

The three have subsequently exhibited in various combinations with other artists such as Debbie Lee and Helen Flockhart at the Boundary Gallery, London on five occasions from 1987 to 2005, also having shows in Glasgow, Orkney, Shetland, Leicester City Art Gallery and Stirling Museum. They have shown in public and private galleries and selforganised several large exhibitions such as “Venus Flower Basket” in 1997 where they invited 8 other artists to show with them in a massive empty department store in Glasgow.

The title of the show ‘Resist Much, Obey Little’ is a line from a Walt Whitman poem. This title appealed to them as it echoes a bid for freedom, for individuality, so you might be outwardly tethered but inwardly free, a nod to the struggle of combining worldly responsibilities and creative work.

The three artists are part of a generation of women painters from the eighties – juggling making artwork, motherhood and paid work in teaching and public art projects in the case of Lesley and Rosemary and establishing an Art School as with Alison. They have many subjects between them but a constant presence is the power of colour, nature, the small moments of patience and attention that make up a life, family life and reaching for that internal space and freedom. The universal can be expressed in the personal and what were often in the past described as lesser ‘feminine’ subjects; ‘the domestic sphere’, connection both with nature and community – are however deeply important – aligned with every significant theme: love, death, the fleeting nature of our existence- these things can be expressed in the simplest of subjects. The three painters are united by friendship, shared history and a deep love of painting and drawing.

Painting and especially figurative painting has until recently, been out of fashion since the nineties. A renewed interest in figurative painting has taken hold, particularly since the Radical Figures exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery, London in early 2020. The Pandemic sealed the deal as it were, when people came blinking into the sunlight they craved human connection and figurative painting has been firmly in favour again with major galleries and museums showing narrative and figurative work. It is a pleasure to be exhibiting again in London when there is currently a renewed broader interest in painting and visual story-telling. We hope you will visit the show and enjoy work characterised by an unabashed range of human qualities: lively, poetic, controversial, entertaining, humorous, sexy, dark, spiritual, celebrating quiet moments and loud ones. We hope you enjoy the life, the colour and some sublime drawing!

Warmest wishes

Alison, Rosemary and Lesley

ROSEMARY BEATON

Whilst still a student in third year at Glasgow School of Art and at the age of only 20, Rosemary was the first Scot and youngest person to win the prestigious National Portrait Award (now BP) in 1984. Rosemary’s career has spanned 40 years in which she has exhibited nationally and internationally. Her work has been acquired by private and public collections including her portrait of Sir Robin Day which was commissioned by the NPG and hung for 10 years in the contemporary collection. Her work is included in BBC Productions ‘Tutti Frutti’ and ‘Paris’.

Rosemary has exhibited widely: Solo exhibitions include Alternative Realities, Glasgow 018: a large retrospective that included over 100 works. Group shows include Artist Aid Ukraine, Glasgow 2022, 400 Women, Holland, Edinburgh and London, 2012/11/10 and Monumental Woman with Niki de Saint Phalle and Paula Rego. Boundary Gallery, London 2005.

Rosemary has worked on largescale public art projects including a 11m x 2.2m Stained Glass Window in Glasgow and Present and Future: a large scale artwork in Aberdeen comprising 50m x 25m grass waves and 2 steel heads, 3m each. Rosemary taught for many years at Glasgow School of Art and at TheEsop. A large, full colour, illustrated Publication of Rosemary’s work was published in 2018 by Sansom & Co.

LESLEY BURR

Lesley Burr graduated in painting from Glasgow School of Art in 1985 followed by an MA in Public Art and Design at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee. Lesley is a multi- disciplinary artist, undertaking large -scale public commissions in mosaic and ceramics and winning numerous awards for painting including The Laing Landscape Prize and Ruth Davidson Memorial Award. In 2019 she was awarded two prizes from the Royal Scottish Academy and selected as Arctic artist in residence by the Friends of the Scott Polar Research Institute.

Known as one of the Glasgow Girls since the 1990s, Lesley has exhibited extensively including at the Boundary Gallery London, Compass Gallery Glasgow, Leicester City Art Gallery, Royal Academy London, Shetland Museum, Aberdeen Art Gallery, Sugar City Amsterdam. Her recent exhibitions include 3 solo exhibitions of Arctic based artwork at Glasgow Print Studio, The Stirling Smith, and in Dunoon.

Her new book “Painting the Polar North: Arctic Paintings” is published by Sansom & Company. Her paintings and prints are represented in numerous private and public collections. An experienced art lecturer Lesley has taught painting at various institutions including Glasgow School of Art, the University of the Highlands & Islands and TheESOP. She is co-founder of art initiatives in Scotland including Artmap Argyll, Shetland Crafts and CHArts Argyll.

ALISON HARPER

Alison Harper studied at Glasgow School of Art (1981 – 85), Norway on a Norwegian Govt. Scholarship (1986-87) and was part of the resurgence in figurative painting emerging at that time. In 1993 Alison won a Commonwealth Scholarship to paint in India for two years.

Selected exhibitions include: The Royal Scottish Academy (invited artist), the Royal Academy, Leicester City Art Gallery, Stirling Museum, The Boundary Gallery, London, The Compass gallery, Glasgow, The Collins Gallery, Glasgow The City Arts Centre, Edinburgh; The Graphic Museum of Tokyo, Japan; The India Today Gallery, New Delhi, India, The National Portrait Gallery, London and The National Museum of Kenya, Nairobi.

Alison was a part-time lecturer in painting and printmaking at Glasgow School of Art between 1991 and 2002 becoming one of the youngest lecturers to teach there. She is the co-Founder and Artistic Director of The Essential School of Painting estd 2004. A co-author of Drawing and Painting: Materials and techniques for Contemporary artists published by Thames and Hudson, she is also the recipient of several Scholarships, awards and prizes including The Cheltenham Drawing Prize (precursor to the Jerwood), Ruth Davidson Memorial Award and The Prince’s Drawing School Bursary Award. She was Art consultant for the BBC1 programme the Big Painting Challenge from 2014 to  2017. Alison is included in Who’s Who in Art and Who’s Who of Women in the World.

>> Link to Essential School of Painting